The present invention relates to an oxygen-absorbing composition and to a package containing the composition for placement in an enclosure, such as a container having a low moisture product therein.
By way of background, there are numerous types of low moisture products, such as foods like potato chips, nuts, dried fruits and the like, which are packaged in containers having air therein. It is known that the oxygen which is entrained in these products or which is in the air reacts with these products to cause them to deteriorate to various extents. This deterioration or degradation may be due to the presence of aerobic organisms, biochemical oxidations resulting in deterioration of color or flavor, or chemical deterioration from oxidation of lipids. Also, in certain instances the oxygen-absorbing composition can be used in the packaging of textiles to absorb oxygen and thus deprive larvae and insects of the ability to grow and destroy the textiles. There have been various types of oxygen-absorbing compositions utilized in the past for packaging with foods or other products to absorb the oxygen in order to retard deterioration. However, previous oxygen-absorbing compositions could not efficiently absorb a desired amount of oxygen from a low moisture environment in a relatively short time period, such as between twenty-four and forty-eight hours after packaging, because of the absence of sufficient moisture to produce an oxygen-absorbing action.